


Los Banditos

by drowned_in_books



Category: Ranger's Apprentice - John Flanagan
Genre: Gen, bandits, chase scene, incorrect quote
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-09 05:42:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18631972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/drowned_in_books/pseuds/drowned_in_books
Summary: Bandits have been terrorizing Redmont's jongleurs... but Will and Halt have hatched a plan to take them down!





	1. The Plan Hatches

**Author's Note:**

  * For [rangerpippin](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=rangerpippin), [littlekaracan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlekaracan/gifts).



> Lots of credit to @incorrectrangerquotes on tumblr, who is littlekaracan here! Please check them out, they're absolutely wonderful!
> 
> Also, a gift for @rangerpippin on tumblr... my dear, you asked for it!

These damn bandits had been terrorizing Redmont Fief for too long.

Every day Will heard new reports of jongleurs getting robbed on the road north towards Whitby Fief. Jongleurs seemed to be the bandits’ favorite target… probably because they didn’t know the area as well as locals, or even traders. A trader will stay in the area for a week or so and will usually visit multiple locations in the village. A jongleur will usually only be in town for a few days, and only in the inns and taverns.

A trader will make a note of where the local Ranger’s cabin is, in case someone tries some hornswoggling or they are robbed in transit.

A jongleur, often, will not. Who would rob a jongleur?

Apparently, these bandits would.

* * *

Will and Halt had been trying to track these bandits down for three weeks. But the damn thieves were crafty and only targeted jongleurs. They attacked the jongleur and always made sure to knock them unconscious and bind them, giving the bandits precious time. By the time the hapless jongleur woke, untied himself, and then found the Rangers, the bandits had melted back into the forest and covered their tracks frustratingly well.

It was driving Will mad.

Halt was leaning backwards in his chair, balancing on the back two legs. “How many of these bandits are there?”

“You always said, you’ll loosen the joints, leaning back like that. Supposedly, about ten.”

“It’s not my chair. Ten? Why haven’t you caught them yet?”

“By the time we hear about them they’ve had a day’s head start on us!”

“Why haven’t you tracked them?”

“In the day or more they have before I get there, they cover their tracks. How do I catch these damn bandits?”

Halt sat and thought.

“Bait.”

“But what jongleur would consent to be bait to violent ba—”

Halt raised an eyebrow. Will suddenly understood.

“The bandits don’t know your face well. Get that white and black cloak of yours, and that darn lute—”

“It’s a mandola.”

“Whatever. Get ready and head out on the north road. Look fearful.”

Will got up to dig out his old cloak. “And then?”

“Set them on a chase. Lead them back – through the woods, mind you, and a twisting, confused path – here.”

“And then we arrest them and drag their sorry bums up to Castle Redmont?”

“Exactly.”

A conspiratorial smile spread across their faces. This would be fun.


	2. The Ominous March

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...and now, for the thrilling conclusion!

A few hours later, Will Barton, jongleur, was making his way north from Wensley Village, towards the profitable inns and taverns of Whitby Fief. An instrument case and two saddle bags hung and bounced from the saddle of a shaggy grey horse.

To the outside observer, there was nothing remarkable about this jongleur. He looked fearful, but that was to be expected with the rash of robberies along this road recently.

The bandits sat quietly in the trees. This target looked like easy pickings… perfect.

Will came up level with the first group of them. He could hear them on either side in the woods. They were quiet by regular standards, but that was far, far below what a Ranger could achieve. Breathing, rustling, the soft clink of weapons… and they hadn’t been in place long enough, and still enough, for the birds to resume singing, so it was eerily quiet.

Tug shook his mane and a low rumble sounded through his body. The horse knew his coming role would be crucial to the success of the plan. He was to seem to panic and bolt through the trees. Will’s job would be to hold on for dear life and make sure they weren’t getting too far ahead of the bandits.

Before them, three figures moved out from the trees. Will surreptitiously glanced back and saw a further four bandits blocking the road behind him. Perfect.

“Stop!” one of the men before them yelled, “Stop and we will spare your life!”

Right. That’s what they told the last jongleur and that unlucky man was still in Redmont’s infirmary. Technically, they did spare the man’s life, but only barely.

Will gently squeezed Tug’s sides and then replied. “Let me pass! I have no quarrel with you!”

Tug began to dance skittishly on the road, waiting for one of the bandits to make a sudden move as a reason for his flight.

A bandit behind them yelled out, “Lay down any weapons you are carrying! And dismount!”

Will pulled Tug around to face this new threat, which he seemingly had just noticed. Now Tug was showing all of the whites of his eyes. To any outside observer, the horse was terrified.

All the bandits started forward, swinging their weapons threateningly. “Dismount!”

Tug bolted, ostensibly terrified, to the tree line, and Will crouched down as low as possible in the saddle.

Behind them, they heard yelling as the seven bandits started crashing through the trees behind them. Tug was going as fast as he could, but the thick underbrush impeded any sort of flat-out gallop. That was all right though, the point was to lure the bandits to follow them, and there was no chance any of them, on foot and partially armored, could keep up with Tug’s arrow-fast gallop.

Will pulled on the reins to slow Tug down. Behind him, he could hear the curses and crashing of the bandits. They seemed to be getting louder and closer… louder and closer than they should be. Seven men couldn’t make that much noise, could they? Even Horace was quieter than that, and he sounded like a drunk bear dancing in a china shop. What’s more, a great deal of the noise seemed to be coming from the north, when it should all be coming from the east.

Will could see a clearing ahead through the trees. He nudged Tug towards it… he needed to get a better look at who was following them.

They burst into the clearing, which was really more a meadow, sunlight washing over them and partially blinding Will, whose eyes were adjusted to the dim light of the forest. Trotting to the opposite edge, Will pretended to be confused and frightened as he waited for the bandits to catch up to them.

From the east, seven bandits appeared, crashing through the trees. No surprise there. Through the northern edge of the meadow burst one, two, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five bandits.

This was not ideal.

Tug turned and began dashing through the trees. Will leaned low over the saddle and hung on for dear life, trusting Tug to carry them back to the cabin where Halt was waiting. Near their cabin, with several quivers full of arrows and open space, Will would have a chance. But here? In the tight, confining space of the woods? Will wouldn’t be able to get a clear shot on one or two bandits, let alone thirty-two. His best bet would be to race home, so he kept holding on to Tug. Behind them, Will could here the shouts and cries of the bandits as they hurtled through the trees on foot.

Tug knew that they were getting close to home, though Will had no idea, considering he was barely holding on and thoroughly crunched up over Tug’s back. Will’s first knowledge of their location was when they burst through the trees into the sunlight. Looking up, Will saw the cabin, the stable, and the clearing around the house. Halt was lounging on the verandah, chair tipped back, again.

Halt looked up, and swung his legs off the railing, letting the chair’s front legs crash to the floor. In a moment, he was standing, bow in hand, an arrow on the string, and many more easily at hand. Will and Tug pulled up to the rail, and Will slid down. He gasped, “I may or may not have messed up.”

“Judging by the sheer amount of bandits marching ominously through my backyard I’m going to go with ‘may’.”

Will turned around and saw a sight that was simultaneously frightening, amusing, and pitiful. In their headlong rush through the woods, the bandits had also failed to notice their location. The first bandits through the tree line, confronted with a Ranger’s cabin and realizing their mistake, attempted to turn around and run, but only impeded their fellows. As such, the clearing behind the Rangers’ cabin was a teeming mass of bandits, tripping over each other in their eagerness to run far, far away. The plan, notwithstanding the increase in numbers, had worked perfectly. He and Halt would mop up the mess before them and drag them up to castle.

He glanced at Halt and chuckled. “Marching ominously indeed…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Special thanks to @incorrectrangersapprentice (aka littlekaracan) for the initial quote, @rangerpippin for inspiring me to write something for it, and @fangirlfromthedarkdimension for asking me constantly about when “Los Banditos” was going to be done.
> 
> (credit to her for the name, which i will shamelessly use because it's as good as anything i could do)
> 
> hope y’all like it!


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